For your eyes only
by Dawning Angel
Summary: "For her white day gift, the Dimensional Witch wants me and that irritating man to act out 'Sleeping Beauty', in which I'm a prince and the Mage is the sleeping girl, and to wake him up I have to kiss him?" Kurogane exclaimed. K x F - hilarity ensues.


Heya! This is a one-shot that I thought up, and wanted to see how it went. Cross-dressing, plays and Kurogane x Fai ahead! I don't own the characters, although I wish I did. :-)

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Arriving in Glass world, the gang had landed in an abandoned castle, and after checking that the rooms were serviceable, decided to stay there while they explored the surrounding villages for signs of Sakura's feather.

"Aw," Fai cooed, motioning to Syaoran, who was helping tidy what would be Sakura's room. "Aren't they cute, Kuro-rin?" Kurogane nodded but didn't say anything. Suddenly a pinky-white-marshmallow lookalike bounced from the shadows in the long hall and landed skilfully on the Ninja's head.

"Mokona's cute too!" Kurogane tried to throw him off, but Mokona dodged by jumping up and perching back on Kurogane's head. Fai looked at them with warm eyes. "Ah, Kuro-puu's mad." "The hell I am, Mage." Kurogane muttered, irritated. He dislodged Mokona from his head and set the Manju down on the table with an audible _thump_. "Wah! Kuro-pon's being mean!" Mokona said, bouncing onto his new resting place on Fai's head. Fai looked up and smiled. "Hey, Mokona, could you take these to Yuuko?" Fai drew out a small but beautiful bouquet of white flowers, intricately tied at the base with a gold ribbon. The blooms were black at the tip of each petal, and the leaves were a delicate emerald colour. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a world of glass, he had managed to find a place where these flowers grew.

"Ah, Yuuko will love them. But Kuro-wan-wan still hasn't given Yuuko a white day gift." Kurogane took another swipe at Mokona and hit the air as Mokona bounded into the kitchen, flowers in hand. Fai laughed and Kurogane sat down, muttering darkly about the dimensional rhymes-with-Witch. "Kuro-chan, are you planning on giving Yuuko a white day gift? It's bad manners if you don't."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "Not a chance. Not until she returns Ginryuu. Someone should not expect to receive something in return if they're so greedy to begin with." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "Speaking of which, what about that tattoo of yours?"

"What of it?" Fai said, smiling pleasantly. "

Why was that your price instead of, say," He paused. "Your staff?"

"It's the same reason your sword was your price. It had the right value." Kurogane shook his head, and no one spoke for a few minutes. Fai turned back to Sakura and Syaoran. They really were sweet…but they had their own problems and he- "Why are you here?"

"To help Syaoran get Sakura's feathers back." Fai answered automatically, not even registering the question before he realised Kurogane was only inches away.

"They're good kids, but they deserve the truth." Fai's eyes widened a fraction of an inch. "You think I'm lying?" He asked, surprised at how breathless he sounded. He often covered up his mistakes much less noticeably. Kurogane leaned away slightly, studying Fai's face as if searching for something. "Not about that. That's what you are doing here, not why."

"Why the sudden curiosity, Kuro-rin?" Fai said, evading the question smoothly.

"I have seen people changed by wars and act differently than they normally would in front of people higher in rank than them, but you don't act like those people. You haven't changed because you're protecting someone." Kurogane looked directly into Fai's blue eyes. "You're running away from something. What are you hiding from?"

Kurogane was both right and wrong without even realising. Fai had someone to protect, whose life was worth much more than his ever would. What... who he was running from was something else. Fai felt the blood in his veins freeze, and he pulled his lips up in a smile that he could tell looked forced. It wasn't the glass furniture all around them that showed that, and that he looked more fragile then a blade of grass, but his reflection in Kurogane's red eyes. Somehow, the phrase 'rose-coloured' had never seemed more ironic.

There he was, his reflection with a backdrop of red that instead of making everything look happy, it seemed to show all of Fai's secrets. All of the things he struggled to keep locked away, day after day, fought to hide, were all laid bare. _Luckily,_ Fai thought, _he doesn't know what they mean. _His memories of those secrets all had a black tinge that covered them. Even if Kurogane could draw them out, they would be incomprehensible to someone with a sense of loyalty and hierarchy like the Ninja did. They wouldn't understand. Fai doubted Kurogane had ever had the blood of someone he cared about on his hands.

"Kuro…" Fai breathed, stepping forward so he was as close as they had been before Kurogane had moved back. The Ninja's mouth opened, probably to tell him to get away, but Fai couldn't help himself. He was being inexorably drawn towards Kurogane like a moth to a flame. He closed his eyes, not even registering the blush creeping up Kurogane's face. He didn't want to see the fragile man in the reflection. He knew who he was. He knew what he had done, and that he would never be able to truly run away from those things. By now, he could feel Kurogane's hand on his shoulder, gently steadying him.

"Fai, Kuro-pii!" Mokona's voice rung out, acting as an announcement that a Manju would shortly be arriving… and see Kurogane and Fai practically hugging. Suddenly Fai snapped his eyes open, and stood straight up, watching as Kurogane whipped his hand back faster than Mokona could down a bottle of Sake, and walked a few steps away just as Mokona bounced into the room. "Yuuko wants Kuro-pii's white day gift." "I already told you, I'm not giving it to her." Kurogane growled. Fai looked at Kurogane's still flushed cheeks and felt the ice within him thawing, and a soft smile brightened his face. "Kuro-meanie is very stubborn." Mokona nodded in solemn agreement, and said that Yuuko had said Kurogane didn't have a choice.

"Yuuko already chose what she wanted her gift to be." Fai subtly watched Kurogane's face go from tolerant to refusal to downright disbelief as Mokona carefully outlined Yuuko's plan. In fact, Fai started to be concerned for Mokona's welfare after Kurogane rested his hand on his sword hilt.

About five seconds later, Kurogane had swept out his arm and grabbed Mokona by the ears, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Only, the red-eyed 'magician' in this scenario had murderous intents towards the 'rabbit'. "Listen to me, Shiroi Manju. I. Am. Not. Doing. That."

About five hours later, Mokona was alone in the living room, talking to Yuuko. "And he said he wouldn't do it!" Yuuko smiled knowingly. "I thought he might need a bit of convincing. But it's only polite… and it's not only for me. This will help the both of them. Mokona, would you mind doing something for me?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind, Yuuko. What do you want me to do?" Mokona asked, and was given a small glass bottle after Yuuko had finished explaining.

The next morning, Kurogane woke early to practice his sword skills, as any competent Ninja would. The sword he had found in the armoury was different to anything he'd handled before, and as most things in this world were, the sword was made from tempered glass. He handled it carefully, because if a sword was used flippantly or without respect, then it would cut what the user didn't want to be harmed–

"Kuro-big sword!" "Damn it!" Kurogane swore as the sword slipped in his hand and nicked him on the wrist. "What do you want, Manju?" He growled at Mokona, who had caused his injury by shattering his concentration with those ridiculous nick-names. "I've got your script!" Kurogane resisted the urge to gag the oversized snack, and instead answered "Not interested. If the Witch wants a white day gift then she has to send me back home." Mokona's mouth turned downwards in an uncharacteristic frown, and Kurogane felt mildly surprised – he hadn't realised the Manju could look worried. Up until now, the only settings Kurogane had seen were loud and bouncy, with no off switch to speak of. "But, if you don't, then Fai…" Mokona trailed off.

"Then the Mage will what?" Kurogane prompted.

"It's not what Fai will do; it's what he won't do. Fai won't wake up!"

"What?" Kurogane said, gripping his sword. An unconscious reflex when someone he protected was in danger. Not that he was protecting the Mage…Kurogane paused, then relaxed slightly. "He will wake up when he's ready." Kurogane said, waving the Manju away. Utter nonsense. The Mage was probably just having a lazy day and Mokona was getting worried over nothing. "No he won't, because you need to do the play, otherwise he won't wake up." Mokona protested.

Kurogane sighed. As much as he hated the nicknames, and the fake smiles, he knew the kids would be sad if the Mage didn't wake up. But just to make sure he wasn't humiliating himself for nothing… "Just to get this straight: For her white day gift, which doesn't exist in most dimensions anyway, the Dimensional Witch wants me and that irritating man to act out an abbreviated version of a play called 'Sleeping Beauty', in which I'm a prince and the Mage is the sleeping girl, and to wake him up I have to…" Kurogane paused, shaking his head incredulously as he flicked through the script and stopped at a page near the end. "I have to _kiss_ him?" Kurogane dropped the script in horror, feeling blood rush to his cheeks. "No. I refuse."

"But then Fai won't wake up." Mokona said. "Yuuko gave him a potion that won't wear off until that part in the play."

Kurogane raised an eyebrow. The Witch was in another dimension, and while he knew she could contact them, and even give them objects to help them, she usually wouldn't physically come into whatever world they were in. "The Witch didn't give him that potion. She had a little helper." Mokona, who always had a knack for knowing when to vamoose away from Kurogane's chases, did just that and leaped away as Kurogane tried to grab him around the middle and missed.

"The performance has to be this week!" Mokona exclaimed, moving with surprising agility out of the room, narrowly missing the Princess.

"There's going to be a performance? What will it be on?" Sakura asked with a soft smile, already looking forward to it. "No, there isn't." Kurogane vehemently denied acknowledging that the ridiculous play was going ahead.

"Yes there is." Mokona said from behind the safety of Sakura's skirt. The contradiction earned him a glare from Kurogane that would've turned lesser hyper beings into stone, and a brighter smile from Sakura. "Can I help?" She asked. "I would love to make the costumes." The Manju bounced up and down excitedly.

"Of course, of course!" Mokona tugged on Sakura's long skirt. "Come on, I know where some materials are!" With that, the annoying, energetic thing that looked like a cosplay of food led Sakura out of the large, mirrored room, leaving Kurogane alone again. He sheathed his sword, leaning back against the glass. It seemed he didn't have much of a choice about whether or not to take part in the play, and he wasn't sure what the Witch's potion would do to the Mage if he didn't. Kurogane suddenly sat bolt upright. He might not be able to choose to do the play, but he would be able to make sure he wasn't going to be wearing a pink, yellow, or any other coloured costume chosen by the noisiest snack he had ever had the misfortune of meeting. "Oi, Manju, get back here!" The Ninja yelled as he chased after them, already having flashes of sequins running through his disgruntled mind.

Another room, much like the one Kurogane had been training in earlier had been transformed, one end filled with chairs and the other had one portion curtained off in the corner. He was standing at the far end, trying to melt into the shadows. "Starting with the cast list," Yuuko's voice ricocheted off the walls, the echo making her sound even louder. "I will be acting as Maleficent, Kurogane as the Prince, and Fai as Princess Aurora with Mokona as one of the good fairies."

Kurogane's eyes opened wide in surprise. He hadn't realised the Witch was in the thing, seeing as it was supposed to be her gift. "The stage has been set," Yuuko's voice rang out through the room again, and Syaoran gave a little wave. Kurogane had to agree. The kid had done a pretty decent job setting the stage. He had hewn the glass and polished it until the glass mountain's shone and the tips threw out sparkles of light every now and again. The rest of the stage had been treated likewise – the flowers, walls and floor.

"The costumes have been made-" This time, the Princess smiled shyly. Luckily, Kurogane had found the Manju in time to stop it from persuading Sakura to put glitter everywhere. She had remembered his...difficulty with western style clothing from Outo, and he didn't mind the dark cloak and darker Kimono set. The edges were woven with some kind of silver that made the cloak seem to glow. Kurogane had regarded it suspiciously at first, but he didn't want to offend a girl's sewing skills. He still remembered that time when he had asked Princess Tomoyo why she was sewing, and ended up with brightly coloured flowers embroidered all over his clothes. The leather boots... he wasn't so sure of either. However, they were by far preferable to a pair of stiletto heels the bouncy thing had suggested he consider which, of course, he hadn't. The Manju itself had been cast as some sort of fairy which would explain why it was covered head to toe in glitter. The Mage's dress was blue. That was the only way Kurogane could describe it. Only, there were so many different shades of blue, you weren't quite sure what to call it.

The Witch was still talking. "And the actors have learnt their lines." Kurogane snorted, not caring if anybody heard. _Yeah, right._ The Mage didn't have any lines up until the end. "So let's enjoy this version of the western classic 'Sleeping Beauty'."

Kurogane stepped out onto the makeshift stage and was almost instantly blinded by a spotlight from who-knew where. It was probably using the glass in such a way that reflected the natural light coming through the window. He didn't particularly care what it was made of as long as it was killing his eyes. It wasn't bad enough that the play started from half-way through, they had to blind him as well? The Manju had said they couldn't do the whole story because the Mage was already unconscious. Not that he even wanted to do this play. Especially not _that _scene.

"Watanuki is so mean!" Kurogane jumped straight out of the spotlight and into the glass mountains. Now, not only could he hear the Witch's obnoxious voice, he could see her standing in the middle of the room accompanied by an (empty) Sake bottle that vanished from her hands the second she spoke. "How the he-" The Ninja tried to interrupt but stopped himself. Not because Yuuko had started talking again, but because he had seen how the audience - no, the people there (if he called then an audience, it meant confirming he was taking part in such an undignified play) were staring at the Manju, then the glass, then back to the loud thing.

"Why is Watanuki mean?" The Manju asked Yuuko.

"Because he won't let me have any more Sake!" Oh, _that_ was the relevance of the mysterious vanishing Sake bottle. A distant voice yelled back "It's not healthy! And we ran out, anyway."

Suddenly, something clicked in Kurogane's mind. The Witch wasn't in Glass World at all. Once again, the kid had proven his skill with the glass. Mokona, or rather 'the Good Fairy', was projecting the usual, if life-size, 2D image of Yuuko, but Syaoran had cut the surrounding glass so there were always several corners in which the reflection of the projection was bounced around, creating an apparent 3D image. When the Manju moved, so did Yuuko. It seemed slightly amusing to Kurogane that the Dimensional Witch was changing her own dimensions. Speaking of whom, she had raised both hands to the ceiling, and two bolts of lightning came from nowhere, one of them hitting the stage, accompanied by rain showers that left the audience (too late to call them anything else. He was officially taking part in a performance) completely dry. He was later told that the rain and the lightning were gifts from Amewarashi and Zashiki-warashi. Actually, Kurogane was the only one getting wet.

The second lightning bolt hit the far right of the stage, where the curtained off area of the stage was. It didn't leave a burn mark, as Kurogane expected, but rather caused the curtains to fly open, revealing the Mage lying on a bed, facing away from the audience. As much as he hated to admit it, the Mage looked nice in that dress. Blue suited him. Kurogane shook his head to get rid of such weird thoughts and swallowed as he realised his cue was coming. "Waiting for the brightest day I overcame the darkest night. Waiting for the return of my life, I healed a broken light. While fighting through the battle, I found a small reprieve. While marching alone, I found someone else who has already, and will, in the future grieve." Kurogane could've sworn he heard snickering while he was talking, but trained his mind to concentrate on the task ahead of him, however mortifying. Whose idea was it to have his lines written in poetry? The Dimensional Witch's voice sounded again, loud as a foghorn, but subdued and serious at the same time. "Well, then." She seemed to step forward, and indeed the Manju moved slightly to create the effect. Kurogane bit back some irritation. He'd bet the Witch had planned all of this with the snack that had springs in its feet. Kurogane briefly wondered if he could induce some rust in those springs.

"Let's play spin the bottle!" Yuuko exclaimed, a happy grin on her face. Kurogane's mouth dropped. "Wha-?" That was nowhere in the script. _Nowhere._ The Witch took another (presumably empty considering her earlier complaints against Watanuki) Sake bottle from behind her. He thought this must be some kind of trickery, seeing as she wasn't even here. Yuuko sat down on the floor cross-legged, placing the bottle in its side in front of her.

"Come, Kuropon, sit down." Kurogane had as little intention of sitting down as he had of doing the play in the first place. However, one glance at the still-unconscious Mage, albeit in a dress, persuaded his locked joints to unlock and go to the damned Witch. When he did sit by her, she lightly tapped the bottle with one long finger and it began to spin. As it did so, it thrummed quietly and Kurogane could feel the vibrations through the floor. It spun, faster and faster until it rose up into the air, several feet above their heads. It suddenly stopped, turned upside down and dropped. Kurogane dodged the falling missile, and breathed a sigh of relief as it missed him. However, instead of getting faster the further it fell, the bottle actually slowed to a leisurely float. The Ninja raised an eyebrow at the Witch, who just smiled.

"Oof!" Kurogane complained. Now he knew why she was smiling. A small bit of paper, rolled up like parchment had shot out of the Sake bottle and hit him straight on the head. He unrolled it, all the while looking warily at the bottle and the Witch to whom it belonged. "Well," Yuuko said, "don't sit there all day, open it. I have places to be." Kurogane had to admit, she made an excellent malevolent Witch.

"Yes, like causing other Princesses to sleep forever with hazardous lightning bolts." He retorted, realizing he'd just referred to the Mage, a man, (although at times even that was doubtful) as a Princess. He was getting into the idea of a play far too much. Kurogane unrolled the paper and saw a bunch of words...that he couldn't understand. The squiggles were in a different language. "At least translate." He said to Yuuko, exasperation creeping in to his voice.

She just grinned like a cat and waved her hand airily. "Hmm, you really are rude." She sighed but dutifully took the paper and read aloud "By default, you have a dare. You must travel to the Princess Aurora who, in a completely justified," Now Kurogane knew she had added that bit herself. "Throwing of lightning, I made unconscious. To revive her, you must kiss her. Properly." Yuuko eyed him over the top of the paper as if suspicious he wouldn't follow through. With that, she handed it back to the befuddled Ninja. That paper had sealed his doom.

Yuuko stood, stretching elaborately. "I'm out of here. Good luck, Prince." The projection flickered and flickered slightly and vanished. Kurogane stood and dusted off his trousers. _Finally_, He thought, _we can get back to the actual script!_ He squeezed his eyes shut for a split-second, just to make sure he wasn't in some kind of warped dream. No, unfortunately not. The glass was still sharp and the Mage was still out of it. For some reason, Kurogane had butterflies in him stomach. Not like eaten-something-off butterflies, but like something-good's-going-to-happen butterflies.

"Prince, you might want to hurry up." The overly happy round thing said, earning yet another glare, and resulted in Kurogane forgetting all about the butterflies as he chased the Manju all around the glass room, narrowly missing the audience several times. The damn Manju slid smoothly under the Mage's bed, and Kurogane tripped to an ungraceful halt only millimetres away from losing his balance and landing on the bed _with _the Mage. Maybe kissing him wouldn't be that bad. He didn't look nearly as annoying when he was unconscious. As if Fai had heard Kurogane's thoughts, he smiled slightly.

_Go on, you know you want to. _Kurogane froze. He heard the Witch's voice... inside his head? _Yes, dense Ninja. Don't worry, I'm not staying long. Fai's waiting for you. Go on. _She disappeared, and Kurogane leant on the bed, unsure. Then suddenly, he was pushed from behind by a white blob, and landed only inches away from the Mage's face. This close... He closed his eyes, forgot his uncertainty and embarrassment, and kissed him lightly on the lips. He felt something happen to him... those butterflies in his stomach turned to bids, then dragons, then he realised he _wanted_ to kiss the Mage, to be close to him. What he felt was there both by his choice, and by something completely out of his control. What he did not expect was the Mage to kiss back. His blue eyes flickered open wide, and he tipped his head back. "My, Kuro-chuu, I had no idea." Fai said, grinning. "But I'm glad you got here. Any longer and that sleeping spell would've worn off, right Mokona?" He aimed the last part to Mokona, and they exchanged a high five.

"B-But..." Kurogane stuttered. Yet again, the Mage seemed to read his thoughts. "Yuuko told you I wouldn't wake up, didn't she?" When Kurogane nodded mutely, Fai laughed and pressed his lips to the Ninja's for another kiss. "That's because we all know how stubborn you are. Although, I'm glad..." He didn't finish the sentence with words, but his eyes finished 'you saved me.' Kurogane pulled the Mage up so he was sitting; back resting against his own side. "Shut up, _Princess_."

Kurogane and Fai looked around at the sound of applause. "Kuro-chan, I think we're supposed to bow."

"I knew that." Kurogane replied gruffly, and they, along with Mokona and another projection of Yuuko all went to the front of the stage and bowed, hand in hand... well, the Ninja had caught the Manju unawares, so I guess it was ear-in-hand at that point. The curtain came down in a swish of long silk.

Kurogane slid one of his arms around Fai's skinny shoulders, addressing Yuuko. "You'd better not tell anyone, Witch. This is for your eyes only." Yuuko smiled. "I think you two were the last to know. But thank you for the white day gift. Actually," Yuuko added, apparently lost in thought. "I helped the two of you together so technically you owe me…"

"We owe you nothing." Yuuko just smiled, and called out over her shoulder, into the shop. "Watanuki! Would you mind getting out the Ninja's sword? I heard a customer was interested in it!" Leaving Kurogane open mouthed in shock at her blatant audacity, she winked at them as the projected image of her faded, and the five of them were left alone again. _Only_, Fai thought with a sly glance at the man whose arms he was being held in, _I don't think I'll ever have to be alone again. _

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Well, that's if for this one. I hoped you liked it! :-) Can I have reviews, please?

P.S All reviews will be given to Mokona in the form of Sake.


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